Wick v. Alworth
Wick v. Alworth
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is an appeal by plaintiff from an order making absolute a rule to show cause why service of attachment in execution and of rule with interrogatories should not be set aside. The attachment issued against Rachel Al-worth, the defendant in the judgment, and Rachel Al-worth, administrator of the estate of Joseph F. A1 worth, deceased, as garnishee. The object of the attachment was to bind the |300.00 widow’s exemption, which, pursuant to her election, had been duly set apart to her and charged on the real estate of the decedent, which subsequently was converted into money by a sale for payment of debts. The letters of administration to Rachel Al-worth were issued in Butler County, wherein the decedent resided at his death and his estate was situated, but she resided in Venango County, and the attachment was served on her in the latter county. It is to be observed that her motion and the court’s order were not directed against the writ itself, but against the service and return. As to the validity of the writ itself, it seems sufficient to refer to Section 10 of the Act of April 13, 1843, P. L. 235, which subjects to attachment any interest which any person may have in real or personal estate of any decedent by will or otherwise. It is to be observed, also, that it neither hurt nor helped the service that the person who made it was at that time sheriff of Venango County. It was not by virtue of his office that he made it, but by virtue of his being specially deputized to -make it by the sheriff of Butler County to whom the writ was directed. The question is, whether the sheriff of the latter county, or his deputy, could lawfully serve it in Venango County. This involves (1) the construction of Section 1 of the Act of March 27,1854, P. L. 214; (2) the repealing effect of the Act of July 9, 1901, P. L. 614. The former reads as follows: “That in all cases where executors, administrators, assignees or other trustees, shall not reside within the jurisdiction of the court haying control of their accounts, proceedings may be had
1. The learned judge below, while not deciding the point, expressed a doubt whether the plaintiff comes within this act. There certainly can be no doubt that the word “proceedings” is broad enough to include an attachment in execution. But whether the plaintiff was “interested” in the decedent’s estate, within the meaning of the act, is a question worthy of consideration. Giving to the word the narrowest meaning that can be ascribed to it in any connection, it well may be doubted whether he was so interested. But in arriving at the intention of the legislature, which is the object of all construction, it is to be borne in mind that there is a manifest advantage in having the suits and proceedings contemplated by the legislation brought in the county wherein the accounts of the executor, administrator, assignee, or trustee are to be settled, rather than in the county wherein he resides, if he be a nonresident, or happens to be at the time the process is issued or served. This consideration, which presumably was had in view by the legislature, applies with the same force to an attachment in execution in which an administrator is made garnishee as to the other proceedings which are embraced in the act. It has been said that the object of a remedial statute being to cure a weakness in an old law, to supply an omission, to enforce a right, or to redress a wrong, it is but reasonable to suppose that the legislature intended to do so as effectually, broadly, and completely as the language used, “when understood in its most extensive signification,” would indicate: Endlich on Interpretation of
2. The second question is as to the repealing effect of the Act of July 29, 1901, P. L. 614. It contains no express reference to the Act of 1854 by title or other particular description; but that is not conclusive of the question. “Repeal is wholly a question of legislative intent. Where, as here, no such intent is expressed but must be found, if at all, in necessary inference, certain general principles or presumptions have been established as aids in the discovery of the actual intent”: Com., ex rel., v. Brown, 210 Pa. 29. A careful consideration of the scope of the act, as exhibited by its title and affirmative provisions, leads to the conclusion that the legislature intended to repeal the Act of 1854 so far as it related to the service of an attachment execution outside the limits of the county in which it was issued. It is true, the
It results from the foregoing, that the court committed no error in holding that the service of the attachment in execution could not be made outside the county.
The order is affirmed at the costs of the appellant.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.